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Chemistry Laboratory Safety Manual And Sample Lab Report Essay Sample

SAFETY IN THE LABORATORY Safety in the laboratory must be emphasized. The compounds you will work with do have some hazards associated with them. Therefore, it is important to follow the safety rules outlined in this lab manual. You should assume that all compounds encountered in the laboratory are toxic and handle them accordingly. Safety goggles for eye protection are recommended and lab coats are to be worn by all students at all times when entering the laboratory. Many chemicals, common in chemical laboratories, will make holes in clothing.

Always wash your hands thoroughly when leaving the laboratory. The location and use of the safety equipment in the laboratory were already discussed in CHE1401 and will be remembered by your instructor the first day the laboratory class meets. You should become familiar with the proper use of the safety shower, eye-wash fountain, fire blanket and fire extinguisher. Report any accidents which occur immediately to the laboratory supervisor. Safety rules to be strictly followed by all students:Wear goggles when required.

Do not touch chemicals with your hands. Spatulas will be provided for handling solid materials.
Do not eat or drink in the laboratory.
Do not taste any chemical.
Do not smell any chemicals directly. Use your fingers to waft the odor to your nose.
Do not pipette solutions by mouth. Rubber Pipet bulbs are provided at each lab station.
Do not put flammable liquids near an open flame.
When heating a test tube, make certain that the open end of the tube is directed away from the students.
When finished with your Bunsen Burner for a given portion of an experiment, turn it off.
Do not sit on the lab benches.
Do not engage in games in the laboratory. Failure to follow this rule will result in immediate dismissal from the lab and subsequent conduct action.
Do not pour any chemicals into a sink without authorization from the instructor.
Notify your instructor if a mercury spill should occur.
All broken glassware should be cleaned up immediately. The instructor should be notified of all breakage, especially if a thermometer is involved.
Do all reactions involving malodorous, noxious or dangerous chemicals in a fume hood.
If a chemical gets on your skin, immediately wash the affected area with large quantities of water. The instructor should be notified; no matter how insignificant the incident might seem.
When pouring one liquid into another, do so slowly and cautiously. To dilute an acid, pour the acid into the water; never pour water into an acid.

No student shall be permitted to work alone in the lab; you should be supervised by a laboratory instructor (or the lab technician during make up sessions).

Exercise good housekeeping practices in the laboratory. Be sure that the lab benches remain free of disorder during the experiment. In the event of a spill, clean the area immediately and be sure to use a wet sponge to wipe off the workstation at the end of the lab session.

Know what you have to do before entering the lab. Read the experiment carefully before coming to the laboratory.
General Safety rules The laboratory can be but is not necessarily a dangerous place. When intelligent precautions and a proper understanding of techniques are employed, the laboratory is no more dangerous than any other classroom. Most of the precautions are just commonsense practices. These include the following:
Be cautious and think about what you are doing!

Wear approved eye protection when required while in the laboratory. Your safety eye protection may be slightly different from that shown, but it must include shatterproof lenses and side shields to provide protection from splashes.

Approved eye protections

The laboratory has an eyewash fountain available for your use. In the event that a chemical splash near your eyes, you should use the fountain before the material runs behind your eyeglasses and into your eyes. The eye wash has a “panic bar,” which enables its easy activation in an emergency.

Eating, drinking, and smoking are strictly prohibited in the laboratory at all times

Know where to find and how to use safety and first-aid equipment.

Consider all chemicals to be hazardous unless you are instructed otherwise.Dispose of chemicals as instructed by your instructor. Follow the explicit instructions given in the experiments.

If chemicals come into contact with your skin or eyes, wash immediately with copious amounts of water and then consult your laboratory instructor.

Wear shoes at all times. “Sandals” shoes are not allowed in the laboratory.

Never taste anything. Never directly smell the source of any vapor or gas; instead, by means of your cupped hand, bring a small sample to your nose (see figure below). Chemicals are not to be used to obtain a “high” or clear your sinuses.

Fume hood found in the laboratory
Exhaust hoods have fans to exhaust fumes out of the hood and away from the user. The hood should be used when noxious, hazardous, and flammable materials are being studied. It also has a shatterproof glass window, which may be used as a shield to protect you from minor explosions. Reagents that evolve toxic fumes are stored in the hood. Return these reagents to the hood after their use.
Never point a test tube that you are heating at yourself or your neighbour. It may erupt like a geyser.

Beware of spattering
Do not perform any unauthorized experiments.
Clean up all broken glassware immediately.
Always pour acid into water, not water into acid, because the heat of solution will cause the water to boil and the acid to spatter.
Avoid rubbing your eyes unless you know that your hands are clean.
Notify the instructor immediately in case of an accident.
Many common reagents, for example, alcohols, acetone, and especially ether, are highly flammable. Do not use them anywhere near open flames.
Observe all special precautions mentioned in experiments.

Learn the location of fire protection devices. In the unlikely event that a large chemical fire occurs, a powder extinguisher and a CO2 extinguisher are available in the lab. In order to activate the extinguisher, you must pull the metal safety ring from the handle and then depress the handle. Direct the output of the extinguisher at the base of the flames. The carbon dioxide smothers the flames and cools the flammable material quickly. If you use the fire extinguisher, be sure to return the extinguisher in at the stockroom so that it can be refilled immediately. If the carbon dioxide extinguisher does not extinguish the fire, evacuate the laboratory immediately and call the security.

Powder and CO2 extinguishers

One of the most frightening and potentially most serious accidents is the ignition of one’s clothing. Therefore, certain types of clothing are hazardous in the laboratory and must not be worn. Since sleeves are more likely to come closest to the flames, any clothing that has bulky or loose sleeves should not be worn in the laboratory. Ideally, students should wear laboratory coats with tightly fitting sleeves. Long hair also presents a hazard and must be tied back. If a student’s clothing or hair catches fire his or her neighbours should take prompt action to prevent severe burns. Most laboratories have a water shower for such emergencies. A typical laboratory emergency water shower has the following appearance. In case someone’s clothing or hair is on fire, immediately lead the person to the shower and pull the metal ring. Safety showers generally dump 151 to 190 liters of water, which should extinguish the flames. These showers cannot be shut off once the metal ring has been pulled. Therefore, the shower cannot be demonstrated. (Showers are checked for proper operation on a regular basis, however.)
18. Whenever possible use hot plates instead of Bunsen burners.

Common laboratory apparatus

Lab reports are an essential part of all laboratory courses and usually a significant part of your grade. If your instructor gives you an outline for how to write a lab report, use that. Some instructors require the lab report be included in a lab notebook, while others will request a separate report. Here’s a format for a lab report you can use if you aren’t sure what to write or need an explanation of what to include in the different parts of the report.
A lab report is how you explain what you did in your experiment, what you learned, and what the results meant. Here is a standard format.

LAB REPORT ESSENTIALS/ report format
Title PageNot all lab reports have title pages, but if your instructor wants one, it would be a single page that states:
The title of the experiment.
Your name and the names of any lab partners.
Your instructor’s name.
The date the lab was performed or the date the report was submitted.
Title
The title says what you did. It should be brief (aim for ten words or less) and describe the main point of the experiment or investigation. An example of a title would be: “Effects of Ultraviolet Light on Borax Crystal Growth Rate”. If you can, begin your title using a keyword rather than an article like ‘The’ or ‘A’.

Introduction / Purpose

Usually, the Introduction is one paragraph that explains the objectives or purpose of the lab. In one sentence, state the hypothesis. Sometimes an introduction may contain background information, briefly summarize how the experiment was performed, state the findings of the experiment, and list the conclusions of the investigation. Even if you don’t write a whole introduction, you need to state the purpose of the experiment, or why you did it. This would be where you state your hypothesis.

Materials
List everything needed to complete your experiment.
Methods
Describe the steps you completed during your investigation. This is your procedure. Be sufficiently detailed that anyone could read this section and duplicate your experiment. Write it as if you were giving direction for someone else to do the lab. It may be helpful to provide a Figure to diagram your experimental setup.
Data analysis and observation
Numerical data obtained from your procedure usually is presented as a table. Data encompasses what you recorded when you conducted the experiment. It’s just the facts, not any interpretation of what they mean.
Results
Describe in words what the data means. Sometimes the Results section is combined with the Discussion (Results & Discussion).
Discussion or Analysis
The Data section contains numbers. The Analysis section contains any calculations you made based on those numbers. This is where you interpret the data and determine whether or not a hypothesis was accepted. This is also where you would discuss any mistakes you might have made while conducting the investigation. You may wish to describe ways the study might have been improved.
Conclusions
Most of the time the conclusion is a single paragraph that sums up what happened in the experiment, whether your hypothesis was accepted or rejected, and what this means.

Department of Chemistry
Experiment 1: laboratory preparation of methane
Prepared by: Tamene Beshaw
Submitted to: Adjibar Higher Education Preparatory and General Secondary School
December 04/04/ 2010
Title: laboratory preparation of methane
Objective: to prepare methane and study its properties
Theory
Methane is the main constituent (about 90%) of natural gas. It is obtained during fractional distillation of petroleum. Methane is also formed by the decay and decomposition of animal and plant remains in swampy lands. It can be produced in a biogas plant. It is used as a fuel in household and laboratories.
Materials required
Sodium acetate (CH3COONa) and soda lime (CaO, NaOH), test tubes, delivery tube, stopper, gas jar and gas jar lid, pneumatic trough, stand, clamp, beehive shelf, Bunsen burner and balance.
Procedure
5g of powdered sodium acetate was mixed with 10g of soda lime. The mixture was placed in the test tube and heated. The gas was collected by the downward displacement of water. The burning wooden splint was inserted in the jar full of gas. I observed what happened in the jar. Ca(OH)2 was added to the jar and observed that what happened. A few drop of bromine water was added to the gas jar filled with methane. The gas jar was covered and well shakes.
Observation and analysis
The colour of the gas is colorless and insoluble in water. It is combustible. The equation for its combustion reaction is:

When Ca(OH)2 is added to the gas jar in which methane is burned, the solution turns milky. This is due to the formation of calcium carbonate. The equation for the reaction is:
There will be no change when bromine water is added to the gas jar filled with methane.
Conclusion
From this experiment I conclude that methane is a non polar colourless gas and combustible. It is not soluble in water. When methane is burn it forms CO2 and H2O and when calcium hydroxide is added the colour change to milky due to formation of CaCO3. Methane is not react with bromine water because it is saturated hydrocarbon.

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